Moby Dick's Tales: Protection
by Freefan1412
Summary: Slight AU. To them it wasn't really a matter of the young brother's wishes. It was fact. And no whining or fighting would get him out of this -over-protective reach.


It was a day like every other on the Moby Dick. The ship was sailing, the crew was loud, and enemies not in sight, the sky was clouded, the sea more or less calm.

However, if asked no one of the crew would say that it was indeed a normal day of usual insanity. Whitebeard was still feared, yes; there was no war, no; yet it was a day that would go down in (Moby Dick´s) history.

Looking carefully one could see that the noise actually came only from one point on deck (if checked the point could be identified as right before Whitebeard´s seat). There, surrounded by a great majority of the crew, standing only few feet apart, were two figures. Two physically somewhat similar men (boys, really) were screaming at each other from the top of their lungs.

And this was why today was different.

It was no playful banter or a silly quarrel that broke Moby Dick´s peace. It was not about meat or leftovers. This was not about one prank or another. (According to one party) it was about safety.

The two´s siblings watched. It was the first real fight ever and it had much deeper reasoning than it seemed. It was the crew´s duty to remember (perhaps).

"-YOURS IS ON YOUR BACK, TOO."

"THAT´S DIFFERENT!"

"IS NOT!"

"IS TOO. I´M NOT WEARING A SHIRT!"

"DOESN´T MATTER!"

"YES, IT DOES! MINE IS VISIBLE!"

"BIG DIFFERENCE!"

"YES!"

"NO!"

"YES! IF YOURS IS HDDEN IT CAN´T DO ITS JOB!"

"I DON´T WANT IT TO!"

"WHY THE HELL NOT?"

"I WANT TO FIGHT MY OWN BATTLES!"

"YOU CAN EITHER WAY!"

"CAN NOT!"

"CAN!"

"NOT!"

"CAN!"

"CAN NOT!"

"IF YOUR ENEMIES RUN AT SIGHT THEY WEREN´T WORTH YOUR TIME ANYWAY!"

"BUT I DON´T WANT OYAJI TO DO EVERYTHING FOR ME! I DON`T WANT PROTECTION!"

"IF YOU DON´T WANT IT SEEN, YOU DON´T NEED HIS SIGN IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

The crowd stiffened.

"WE´RE FAMILY! BUT I WANT TO LIVE BY MY OWN WAY! I CAN´T JUST APPEAR IN EAST BLUE WITH OYAJI´S MARK!"

"THEN DON´T GO IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

"NO WAY! I´M GONNA BE PIRATE KING! AND I´M GONNA IN EAST BLUE!"

"WHY EAST BLUE!"

"BECAUSE!"

"THEN AT LEAST PICK A DIFFERENT SPOT!"

"NO! YOU HAVE YOURS ON YOUR BACK, TOO!"

"…"

"_SABO_!"

With only few inches left between their noses and with sparks flying, both simultaneously rounded in on the blond who was silently observing from a respectful distance in the crew´s circle.

As all eyes were on him Sabo shifted his weight under the expecting (intense and threatening) looks two of his brothers gave him.

"Uhhh…Sorry, Ace, but I think Luffy is right."

Sabo swallowed nervously, deciding to continue before Ace lost that pathetic bit of sanity he had.

"Ya see, it´s not like Luffy needs protection in East Blue. On tha contrary; if he´s running around for tha world to see that he´s one of Oyaji´s sons Marine Headquarters´ll hear about it and then tha Shitty Gramps. Or it´ll attract Oyaji´s enemies.

And Luffy´ll have ta make a name for himself anyway, right?"

"Told you so, Ace!"

Luffy beamed, stuck and his tongue at Ace and ran under deck, one of his arms homing in on Izo, grabbing him at the collar and pulling him along backwards in a much undignified and painful way.

Carefully, the blond glimpsed over the gapping masses and confirmed, that, yes, his strawhat wearing brother was out of earshot. Then a glint that the crew usually associated (and feared) with an act of _the group_ entered his eyes.

"Of course we can´t protect him from everything, he´s gonna be Pirate King, but ya know, Ace, just ´cause it ain´t visible, doesn´t mean it ain´t there."

The as-of-today-Second-Division-Commander averted his still angry eyes from the curly head and stared after his little brother.

His face got blank and eyes dull.

This expression was more commonly known as pouting and signaled to the (relieved) crew that the dispute was over. But they also knew then that, despite Luffy leaving soon, it´d mean war if someone or something dared to hurt him more than allowed (i.e capture, dead, repeated defeat and the like). And they agreed fully with the decision. Weather Luffy wanted it or not hardly mattered.

He just didn't need to know that.

* * *

So, well this is the next one of the Moby Dick's Tales series.

With Luffy having a WB tatoo on the back, hidden by his cloth it this would still fit with canon. And it's not like Luffy needed protection anyway.

Please review to tell me what you think about this. And as always I'm open for suggestions for One Shots, just PM me.


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